"We are moving towards a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, in his sermon at the opening of the Papal Conclave.

"For American Catholics—especially women and Democratic pro-choice Catholic pols—the cafeteria is officially closed."

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, on the election of Pope Benedict XVI.

"WORD-FM needs to function in this city in support of the entire church—that means everybody—and not focus on denominational issues."

Chuck Gratner, general manager of the Salem Communications-owned WORD-FM in Pittsburgh. Gratner fired talk-show host Marty Minto after he said Pope John Paul II would only go to heaven if he was born again.

"To see evangelicals and Catholics making common cause politically represents dramatic change. To see these former antagonists talking to each other once again about prayer, the Bible, and the person of Jesus Christ is of much greater importance for the whole history of Christianity."

Mark Noll, coauthor of the forthcoming book Is the Reformation Over?, on evangelical-Catholic rapprochement during the papacy of John Paul II.

Related Elsewhere:

Sources: The Vatican, Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (also see Weblog's comments on Marty Minto's firing from WORD-FM), Mark Noll in The Boston Globe.

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